Courtesy: Duke Photography Ryan McDermott

DURHAM, N.C. – The Duke track & field teams added three more NCAA Regional qualifiers to the outdoor ledger and took advantage of the friendly confines of Wallace Wade Stadium, concluding competition today at the 2009 Duke/asics Invitational. The Blue Devils finished the home meet with eight NCAA marks, six individual victories, and one relay win.

Senior Jade Ellis made the most of his final Duke Invitational, as he added a win in the long jump to yesterday’s triple jump victory, breaking his own school record in the process as he is now the only Blue Devil to jump over 25-feet both indoors and outdoors. Ellis’ first-place performance in the long jump – a distance of 25-00.50 – was both an NCAA Regional mark and an IC4A qualifier, bringing his total to two each for the weekend. Ellis also came back to anchor Duke’s third-place 4x100 relay.

Senior Molly Lehman followed up her first-place finish in the mile yesterday with a fourth-place finish in the 800 this afternoon, as her time of 2:08.00 was good for both an NCAA Regional and ECAC mark – her second standards of the weekend - and the fifth-best run all-time at Duke. Lehman led the pack of Devotia Moore (sixth place, 2:11.10), Leslie Morrison (eighth place, 2:11.82), and Esther Vermeer (ninth place, 2:12.44) as Duke placed four in the top-10. Moore’s time met the ECAC standard as well.

Duke’s final NCAA time came from Ryan McDermott in the 3000m steeplechase, where he ran Duke’s third fastest time of 9:00.23 for fifth place. His time was an IC4A cut as well.

Amy Matulewicz continued her strong start to the outdoor slate, taking second in the javelin with an ECAC qualifying throw of 140-00. Mike Schallmo was again strong in the discus, taking third in 167-06, while Schallmo and Barbas went 5-6 in the shot put with throws of 52-05.50 and 52-01.75, respectively, both IC4A marks.

Tyler Clarke advanced to the finals of the 110 hurdles, where he took fourth with a personal best time of 14.75 – good for an IC4A standard.

Chris Rowland clocked a seasonal best time of 1:52.25 in the 800 to take fourth, before he came back to compete in the 4x800 relay. Sean Pat Oswald ran a lifetime best 1:53.57 to win his heat of the 800m.

Both the men’s and women’s 4x100 relays were solid, as the men took third in 42.98 and the women fifth in 48.85. The men’s 4x800 teams finished first and second, as the team of Stephen Clark, Oswald, Rowland, and Cory Nanni ran a winning time of 7:35.83. The ‘B’ team of James Kostelnik, Joshua Lund, Bo Waggoner, and Brendon Pierson were second in 7:47.63.

The Blue Devils will have one more home meet left on the slate, set to host the annual Duke/asics Twilight Meet on Sunday, May 3 at Wallace Wade Stadium. Next week, the squads will take to the Carolina Classic down the road in Chapel Hill, N.C. on Saturday, April 11.

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